Labor Strikes in the News

A qualitative content analysis has been applied to a sample of news related to labor strikes from three major newspapers in Spain. Results suggest that news media mainly focus on the immediate negative consequences of the strikes rather than on causes and further explanations. Strikes are portrayed as isolated occurrences that happen because of disagreements between specific companies and workers. The attention is put on events (demonstrations, disorders, economic losses, etc.) and not on the structural causes of the strikes: the contradiction between capital and labor and the consequent tension among social classes. As a result of the frame applied, strikers and their organizations are delegitimized and therefore isolated from public opinion.